Saybrook Alumnus Bart Billings, Ph.D. ’74 On the 20th International Military and Civilian Combat Stress Conference

This article’s subject is one that will be discussed extensively at next years 20th International Military and Civilian Combat Stress Conference scheduled for May. This conference is the longest running conference of its kind in the world.

“When I finally sought help, I was put on what I call the Army’s ‘quick fix’ program—the antidepressant Zoloft,” he says. “After that, I was seen once a month by the psychiatrist, usually for five minutes, maybe 10, and that was just to get my prescription renewed.”

Gonzalez says his doctors never discussed coping strategies. “I was depressed. I had thoughts of suicide,” he says. “But there was never really any advice from the psychiatrist, like, ‘This is what you could be doing to get better.”

For years, the conference has been addressing Integrative Treatment and the adverse reactions of psychiatric medication, discussing extensively the first black box warning on the medications being suicidality. This conference also requested Congress hold hearings on the relationship between suicide and the use of psychiatric medication.

If you have previously presented at the conference or would like to speak on your integrative treatment specialty, please let me know ASAP so we can develop next May’s program.